Lived to tell the tale

For the past couple of days, everyone I know has been asking how I did in the Tour de Cure, and they’re asking with a certain level of concern in their voices. That’s because it was over 90 degrees, hazy, phenomenally humid, and there was a wicked headwind for the second half of the course. But in fact, I did fine. In fact, I had a really really nice time. I was sociable, chatted with other riders, rode with a couple of groups, and had a really nice time. The start was shaky, with lots of broken pavement and a water bottle that came flying at me, with nowhere to move in the pack, but after things thinned out it became quite nice. Kept running into the same group of people so we started talking along the way, took a few long rests together, rode together for a long time, and finished around the same time — which was impressive for me, since one of the guys was a fairly serious triathlete. Of course, he wasn’t really pushing it, but that’s not the point. My ego is just happy I finished just a little bit before he did. Also rode with a really nice, big guy in a SpongeBob SquarePants jersey, and learned the tremendous value of riding behind Magnus Backstedt or any of the other big men of the peloton — they’re fabulous pullers. Despite the 20mph headwind, I felt nice and rested when I was behind him. (Unfortunately, he had much more climbing ability than I had in that heat, so I’d get dropped on the hills and then pick him back up on the flats.) Anyway, a wonderful day despite the heat, and with the help of many of you folks and my phenomenally generous co-workers, we raised just a little under $1400 for the American Diabetes Association! Thanks once again.

Yesterday was spent on the Train Ride From Perdition. Not quite From Hell — I’ve suffered worse — but one of the slowest rides ever. Heat restrictions on the tracks, signal outages, all kinds of fun problems. I arrived in NYC an hour and a half late for a meeting, caught the last half hour, and turned around and came back — a little more quickly, but not much. Seven hours on Amtrak. That’s going to be much more fun when they discontinue food service later this summer — hours and hours stuck on an overheated train, waiting for relief, unable to get any food or water. Better start taking the Camelbak. (I know they’re losing money on it — but jeez, they gotta make something available. How about a couple of vending machines??)

This terrific heat wave has led me to finally give in to my long-suffering spouse (who, after all, works from home and has to sit in this overheated house all day) and buy an air conditioner. Of course, that’s a much easier decision to make when no such thing exists in the tri-city area. I could still find a fan, though not one that works. I brought home one of those little mist bottles with a battery-operated fan on top — it will just have to do.